The financial and economic crisis has rapidly turned into a jobs crisis with large job losses and potentially severe social consequences. The OECD Employment and Labour Ministers met to discuss how best can labour market and social policies help workers and low income households weather the storm of the crisis. Read their Final Communiqué (also available in French and German).

Themes

The Ministerial meeting was divided into three themed sessions:

The jobs crisis: What are the implications for Employment and Social Policy?;

- The OECD average unemployment rate reached 8.5% in July 2009, the highest level in the Post-War period.

- Since December 2007, about 15.1 million workers have joined the ranks of the unemployed.

- By 2010, the unemployment rate could approach 10% in the OECD area, an 80% increase and 25 million additional unemployed compared with 2007.

- By comparison, the unemployment rate rose by 50% during the first oil shock of the 1970s.

- Most countries have scaled up resources for labour market and social policies to support the rapidly growing number of unemployed, but additional funds are often rather limited and governments are facing difficult choices on how best to respond to the different demands.

The current unemployment hike is the worst in recent decades

What can governments do?

Interview with Stefano Scarpetta, Head of the OECD Employment Analysis and Policy Division